Change is a necessary and inevitable part of the business cycle, allowing organizations to adapt, evolve, and remain competitive. However, change can be challenging and potentially disruptive for leaders, employees, and business stakeholders.
Whether your business is preparing for new technology implementation, a merger or acquisition, or organizational restructuring – bringing aboard a specialized change management consultant with an expertise in marketing, communications, program and project management can help you navigate these more complex transitions and help you achieve desired outcomes with less disruption.
But first, what exactly is change management? Change management is the process of planning, implementing, and monitoring changes in an organization. It involves understanding the impact of change on employees, business processes and systems, and then taking steps to mitigate potential risks and opposition. Change management consultants can work with organizations to develop and execute strategies that effectively manage change to ensure a smooth transition.
Need to hire a change management consultant?
Here are some things to think about before launching your search for a change management consultant:
While most consultants in the marketing, communications, program, and project management space handle aspects of change management, turning to a dedicated change management consultant is beneficial, especially during major transitions.
Here are some of the advantages of bringing aboard a change management consultant:
Objectivity: Organizational change can be emotional and challenging, creating difficulty for internal teams in remaining objective and open. Change management consultants can be instrumental in providing an outside perspective, helping to identify blind spots and potential roadblocks – increasing the chances of keeping your teams focused on the ultimate goal. These experts can also help facilitate difficult conversations and decisions, aiding alignment and clarity.
Customization: Your change management needs will not necessarily look like those of another organization. Even if you’re experiencing a similar change, you are different organizations with varying structures, company cultures, values, goals, histories, and legacy systems. As such, it’s essential that the change management consultant you work with be able to develop customized solutions that fit your specific needs. This involves the ability to understand your organization’s unique story so that they can create and tailor strategies that work for your business.
Improved communication and engagement: Critical to the success of any change initiative is effective communication and engagement. Change management consultants can help develop communication plans and engagement initiatives to get everyone on board so your organization can collectively move together in the same direction. They can handle strategic executive communications and coach company leadership, including directors, managers, and C-Suite executives. Additionally, they can provide training and support to help internal teams understand and, hopefully, embrace the incoming changes.
Risk mitigation: Remaining stagnant and stuck in “this is how we’ve always done it” mode is highly risky. But, yes, change can be risky and can impact people, processes, and systems. But change management consultants can help you identify and mitigate these risks, advising you as you move forward in a way and at a pace that minimizes disruptions. They can also develop contingency plans and fallback options, helping you prepare for any challenges that might arise.
Efficiency: Managing change can be a time-consuming and resource-intensive process, taking internal teams away from their core responsibilities and potentially hurting productivity. Change management consultants can help you streamline the process, ensuring that the change process is handled both efficiently and effectively. You should be able to look to them to identify areas where resources might be redirected or repurposed.
Once you have selected a group of potential change management consultant candidates, it’s time to set up interviews to get a better grasp of their working style and the specifics of their experience.
Below are a few examples of interview questions for consultants who focus on managing change:
If you are preparing for any significant transition – chances are your plate is already quite full. Consider partnering with Simplicity and letting us handle the heavy lifting of sourcing and hiring a change management consultant.
Simplicity is a long-standing leader in the industry, finding clients the expert consultants they need in the marketing, communications, project, and program management space. We have a deep pool of consultants who specialize in leading change management initiatives ready to help your organization navigate its next transition today.
Our team utilizes a high-touch approach and will work with you through every step of your journey, from developing a detailed project outline based on your unique needs and budget to creating a shortlist of potential candidates. From there, we organize working sessions with the candidates you’re most interested in and help guide you through the selection process.
Once you select a change management consultant, you’ll work with one of our dedicated client success managers to ensure smooth sailing from kickoff to the project’s completion.
